- Visa to cut 7% of workforce, totaling 2,600 jobs, citing efficiency reasons
- CEO Ryan McInerney emphasized focus on efficiency and reinvestment in key areas
- Layoffs follow fintech rivals like PayPal and Block with more severe cuts
Visa, the US-based payment card firm, is set to lay off 7% of its workforce, which aggregates to 2,600 jobs, according to a report from Bloomberg on Tuesday.
Chief Executive Officer Ryan McInerney cited efficiency as the reason for eliminating these jobs in the face of a cutthroat payments industry.
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“I have deep conviction that we are doing what is right for Visa, our clients and our partners as we continue to focus on driving efficiency across the company in order to reinvest in our highest potential opportunities,” McInerny said in a staff memo mentioned in the report.
This announcement comes amid a series of job cuts from its competitiors in the fintech industry such as PayPal Holdings and Block Inc. which were notably more severe than Visa's lay offs.
“To capture the opportunities ahead and best position Visa to lead this transformation, we must continue evolving how we work,” McInerney said.
He also named the widespread proliferation and adoption of AI technology as a key factor for the laying off employees from 2,600 positions.
“AI is also helping to accelerate this evolution and shape the way work gets done at Visa.” he added.
Despite AI technology being used to repetitive work and ramp up product development, it was not the main reason for the lay offs, according to the report.
The payments company is planning to reinvest in consumer payments, commercial and money-movement solutions and value-added services such as stablecoin, cross-border and business-to-business (B2B) offerings.
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“As a result of the choices we have made over the past few years, we are entering a new era in commerce with a business that has real momentum,” McInerney said.
“We see this in our continued strong financial results, client satisfaction, employee engagement, and breakthrough innovation as we build and ship products better and faster than ever before," he added.
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